Make That ‘Paterson’
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
WASHINGTON — Memo to Democrats: The surname of the new governor of New York is spelled with one ‘t.’
It may simply be a matter of a few sensitive computer keys, or a sign of how little known David Paterson is, that several Democrats — including the party’s national apparatus — have added an extra ‘t’ in referencing the former lieutenant governor and state Senate minority leader over the past week.
“Rep. Clarke Welcomes David A. Patterson As New York’s First Black Governor,” read a press release sent out yesterday morning from the office of a first-term Brooklyn congresswoman, Rep. Yvette Clarke, who is herself no stranger to surname spelling errors.
The congratulatory statement proceeded to misspell Paterson four times before getting it right in the final paragraph.
Another first-term Democratic congresswoman, Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand, who represents the Saratoga area, issued a statement last week saying she had “every confidence in Governor Patterson and look forward to working with him on the important challenges we face.”
The Democratic National Committee also got into the act yesterday morning. A memo explaining that Governor Spitzer’s resignation meant New York lost one superdelegate twice misspelled Mr. Paterson’s name.
A City Council candidate in the Bronx, Haile Rivera, sent out a statement with the misspelling but sent an e-mail with the correct spelling a half hour later.
The new governor shares his surname with the town of Paterson, N.J., which was incorporated in 1851 and named after New Jersey’s second governor, William Paterson. Like New York’s Paterson, William Paterson was not elected to his post, having taken over in 1790 after his predecessor suffered a heart attack, according to the director of the Paterson Museum, Jiacomo DeStefano. A signer of the Constitution, he later became an associate justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, where he served for 13 years.
William Paterson was born in Ireland, where his name would properly be pronounced with a long ‘a’ (as in the word “gate”), Mr. DeStefano said. It likely has a different lineage from the more common Patterson, he said.
As for whether Paterson, N.J., is ever addressed with the erroneous extra ‘t,’ Mr. DeStefano said: “Once in a while.”
